Hynek Kmonicek, the Czech Republic’s deputy foreign minister, informs the Iraqi charge d’affaires in Prague that Iraqi diplomat Ahmed al-Ani must leave the Czech Republic within 24 hours because his “presence [is] not in the security interests of the Czech Republic” and because his activities are “incompatible with his diplomatic status.” [Independent, 10/25/2001; New York Times, 10/27/2001; New York Times, 12/16/2001; New York Times, 11/19/2003] Kmonicek will later deny that the dismissal is related to the meeting that allegedly took place on April 8 (see April 8, 2001). A Newsweek report in April 2002 will suggest the dismissal is related to video surveillance footage showing al-Ani photographing the Radio Free Europe building on several occasions. [Newsweek, 4/28/2002] But a November 2003 report in Slate will say that the dismissal is indeed related to the alleged meeting, explaining that Czech intelligence had become nervous after learning of the meeting. [New York Times, 11/19/2003] The real cause for his dismissal is never officially disclosed.

Within hours of the murder of a security guard by white supremacist James von Brunn (see June 10, 2009 and After), Web sites that had praised von Brunn’s cultural and political stances begin removing his material. Wikipedia had already eradicated his user page and changes because, according to a spokesman, von Brunn violated the site’s policy on hate speech. An art site removes posts from von Brunn, including an image of a painting he created. [New York Times, 6/10/2009] The progressive Internet news site Talking Points Memo finds a cached copy of a December 2008 anti-Obama post by Von Brunn on the far-right Free Republic news and commentary site; Free Republic had removed it from its listings soon after the shooting became known. Von Brunn’s post garnered over 200 responses, almost all positive and supportive. [TPM Muckraker, 6/10/2009]

A post on the conservative Internet forum Free Republic triggers a wave of overtly racist comments and death threats towards African-Americans. The post links to an Associated Press article, “GOP Spending Cuts Would Affect Millions of People,” which projects some of the funding cuts that would ensue if the new Republican majority in the House were able to pass its “Pledge to America” economic legislation. The “Pledge” demands $84 billion in appropriations cuts. The article notes that “[l]ow-income students may get smaller grants”; low-income Americans would lose home heating subsidies; low-income mothers would lose food subsidies for their infant children; disabled Americans will have benefits delayed; public schools will suffer draconian funding reductions; the FBI, the IRS, and the National Parks Service, among other government bureaus and agencies, would lose millions in funding; and more. Many posters on Free Republic immediately begin pointing to African-Americans as the main ones to suffer the cuts. One poster, “traditional1,” posts a picture of a department store entrance crowded with African-American shoppers and writes: “Start defunding here. Then we’ll see who will ‘tone down the rhetoric.’” His signature line, a crude parody of what he apparently considers to be “black English,” reads, “Don’t gotsta worry ‘bout no mo’gage, don’t gotsta worry ‘bout no gas; Obama gonna take care o’ me!” Another poster, “Hoffer_Rand,” references the EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) government assistance program by saying the picture depicts “EBT night at Wally World,” meaning Wal-Mart. “Something like that. It was a program to apply for rent assistance, but the word got out that they were giving out money to help pay people’s rent. They just about had riots when people in the crowd found out that all they were handing out were applications and not free money, especially because they’d been standing in line for hours. I said at the time they needed to send somebody with a bullhorn up and down through the crowd, telling people that they were only going to get an application and not any cash. That crowd would have been cut by 90 percent in no time.” Another poster, “cripplecreek,” warns of urban violence, presumably among African-Americans, if the budget cuts pass: “Better lay in some extra ammo, though, if you live near a major urban area… the Dem voterbase will be heading to the suburbs to take what they believe that they have a ‘right’ to.” Poster “Dick Bachert” advises Free Republic readers to shoot down angry welfare recipients: “My guess is that the REAL ‘trouble’ will start when the welfare checks stop going out. If you live in a major urban area, lock and load ‘cause I suspect it WILL be a target-rich environment.” Poster “Panzerlied,” whose nickname references a song made famous by the Nazi Wehrmacht, writes in response to Bachert’s post, “I’ll deliver what they deserve, 9mm from a MAC-11. 900 RPM.” [Free Republic, 1/19/2011; Associated Press, 1/19/2011]

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